McMaster University Libraries Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee Mandate
Download the Word version of the DEIA Mandate
Updated January 2025
Preamble
The McMaster University Libraries Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Committee is dedicated to making McMaster Libraries anti-oppressive spaces of learning, study, research, and employment. We strive to foster an environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible for all members of the McMaster community, especially those from Equity-Deserving Groups (EDGs), such as those who are racialized, living with visible and invisible disabilities, and who identify as LGBTQ+. These values are in alignment with provincial and national commitments within the Canadian library sector as well as our Equity Inclusion Office here at McMaster.
This is part of the fabric of McMaster University Libraries – inclusivity is foundational to everything we do.
Our Mandate
The DEIA Committee will advise McMaster University Libraries on policies and programs associated with the following areas:
- Learning and Study
- Research, Knowledge Keeping, and Accountability
- Employment
- Skills Sharing and Knowledge Management
Learning and Study
- Making library services and spaces more welcoming and inclusive for all individuals
- Creating learning opportunities to increase practical DEIA knowledge.
- Aspiring to have reflective representation in marketing, collections, and displays
- Proactively demonstrating through actions that the Libraries are brave spaces for learning to flourish
- Ensuring our community partnerships are more diverse and inclusive.
- Committing to work that increases the library’s visibility as an antiracist and anti-oppressive safe space for learning and development
Research, Knowledge Keeping, and Accountability
- Promote building and describing our collections in ways that are respectful to all groups.
- Being conscious, communicative, and responsible – acknowledging impacts with transparency and awareness
- Developing internal capacity for DEIA knowledge sharing through committee-led initiatives and events
- Providing programming that is inclusive
- Representing ourselves in an inclusive manner to the campus and the community
- Acknowledging with transparency the harms and impacts of oppression on marginalized communities in our discussions, event planning, resource procurement, and relationship building
- Consult with campus allies/partners to ensure we are aligned in our equity goals
Employment
- Creating a more welcoming experience for candidates from the application to hiring, onboarding to offboarding process
- Creating a more inclusive culture within the libraries that takes into consideration the applicant’s full self - feeling welcomed, respected, and supported
- Creating more positive environments for new recruits, including improving our onboarding processes
- Encouraging library workforce members to participate in DEIA learning opportunities as part of their onboarding, career development, and lifelong learning
- Creating meaningful opportunities for the library workforce to engage in challenging conversations with nuance and courage to develop their understanding of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility
Skill Sharing and Knowledge Management
- Leveraging their collective knowledge management skills to support broader Campus Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility work
- Encouraging the sharing of and access to library knowledge management practices, skills, and tools to assist campus partners in achieving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion goals
- Sharing archival knowledge to support campus partners in documenting and preserving their DEIA past, present, and future
© McMaster University Libraries, 2025
